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DAY 151, or May 31. God rewards His faithful servant. Our thoughts today are rooted in

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Job chapter 42 verse 10. After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes

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and gave him twice as much as he had before.

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Lets look at the big picture surrounding this verse. After so many mournful chapters, isn't

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it great to see that it all ended happily after all? God continued teaching Job about

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the animals that inhabit the earth, all of which were made by him. In order to make a

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point of extreme power, two of the most powerful mythological beasts of Job's days, Beremoth

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and Leviathan, are mentioned to emphasize how much more powerful God was. God is more

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powerful than we can imagine. It's a bit like using Superman as an example of strength

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and power today. You can almost see Job throw his hands in the air and admit defeat. Job

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concedes that God is in a different league to all creatures created or imagined. God

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replaced all that Job lost, and Job goes on to live a long and fruitful life.

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And now today's action step. You can be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief as we come

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to the end of Job, but it will be nothing compared to how Job felt. All that Job treasured

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in life had been taken away, but his faith remained intact, even if his friends were

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of little help, and even though Job did seem to overreact at times. Even after all the

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trials of the Old Testament, Malachi, its last book, reminds us that if we do our part,

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God will pour out so much blessing on us that it will overflow as it exceeds our capacity

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to contain it. Over the years I have thought I was making sacrifices for God, but looking

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back, what he then did for me in return was far greater. Of course, we shouldn't be following

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God so that we can be rewarded. That is not the way. However, it is comforting to know

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that when our circumstances are a bit tight or conditions are uncomfortable, God wants

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us to be faithful, and in his good time he will pour out blessings on us that will overflow

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our lives.